Jabberwocky

"It's the middle of the dark ages, ages darker than anyone expected," and the mercilessly beset Dennis Cooper (Michael Palin), disowned by his father and shunned by his twenty stone sweetheart Griselda, hits the road to find fame, fortune, and a way back into his true love's overworked heart. But upon arriving in the kingdom of Bruno the Questionable, Dennis finds a terrorized people held ransom by the murdering sprees of the bone-crushing Jabberwocky, a monster so foul, so heinous, so utterly bereft of any redeeming value that… well, you get the idea. A numbing series of dim misadventures later, Dennis, who has a knack for stumbling ever upwards, actually ends up slaying the Jabberwocky, and thus winning the hand of the King's very fair, albeit just as dizzy, daughter. Even Terry Gilliam's biggest fans must wonder what the Brazil director was thinking when he made this one, a mirthless mixture of mud, blood, and bodily (mis)functions that makes the Farrelly Brothers' Osmosis Jones look like Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, Jabberwocky is surprisingly well-crafted and lensed, given the director's miniscule budget; and yes, the commentary with Gilliam and Palin is as warm as the Python alums' long friendship; but in the words of Jabberwocky's predecessor, the much (and rightly) esteemed Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): "Run away, run away!" For Gilliam completists only. (S. C. Sickles)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Nov. 14, 2017—Criterion, 105 min., PG, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1977's Jabberwocky features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include 2001 audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam and star Michael Palin, a new “making-of” featurette with Gilliam, Palin, producer Sandy Lieberson, and costar Annette Badland (41 min.), a 1998 audio interview with cinematographer Terry Bedford and writer David Morgan (23 min.), “Valerie Charlton: The Making of a Monster” with the creature designer (15 min.), a sketch-to-screen comparison (7 min.), the original U.K. opening sequence (3 min.), a reading of Lewis Carroll's “Jabberwocky” poem (2 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Scott Tobias. Bottom line: although critics were split over this scatological Python satire, it looks great (albeit often disgusting) on Blu-ray.]